Synaesthesia

[The Many]

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. - "Synesthesia (also spelled synæsthesia or synaesthesia, plural synesthesiae or synaesthesiae)—from the Ancient Greek σύν (syn), meaning "with," and αἴσθησις (aisthēsis), meaning "sensation"'—is a neurologically based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway."

I am synaesthetic, when I listen to music I usually see the notes take various colours in my mind's eye (although strangely enough not when I think "I'm synaesthetic" and work my way through it - for instance I am currently listening to The Dillinger Escape plan which would normally give a grey/orange/yellow experience, but since I am actually thinking about this the music loses its colours and becomes merely audial).

Also I often tend to relate emotional experiences with synaesthetic experiences, I don't only feel when I feel, reality usually adopts different palettes with different moods. For instance my surroundings literally look a lot bleaker whenever I am feeling some negative emotion, whilst it tends to be a lot more vivid and sunlight-y (if you get what I mean) when I am happy with it. Another example is when I intuite a mind; the general "cognition" tend to be quite transparent in a shade as blue as the normal skin to this forum, whilst the "emotions" surrounding it are red, green, yellow or something like that.

Does any other INTJ share these traits? If so, could it possibly be related to intuition? The scientific explanation of synaesthesia seems to be unusual neural connection; could this perhaps also be the cause for a highly involved intuition?

[Paul V]

I personally love synaesthesia, and I enjoy every time I experience it, even if it's a rare happening. It usually happens in my dreams, where I can hear colours, or taste music, or smell sounds.

In my dreams, I also have other senses as well, and they are synaesthetic too.

But as I've said before, it has only happened to me a few times, if I remember correctly.

[Oversphere]

Based on the wikipedia entry, it looks like I have a classic case of synesthesia. I knew that my arbitrary color designations for letters and numbers were because of it, but I didn't know that my three dimensional maps of the days of the week, the months, and the integers 1-100 were so typical. I'll try to describe how my totally useless, unconsciously designed system works.

My map of the week is pretty simple. It's sort of donut shaped, but thinner. Also, the top is flattened. Saturday and sunday are in the flattened top, and they are each a bit longer than the other five days. They are both white, unless I zoom in. Then saturday becomes pink and sunday becomes off-white. The days are arranged in a counter-clockwise direction. Monday is dark violet. Tuesday is orange. Wednesday is red. Thursday is slightly darker orange. Friday is yellow.

The months are arranged in a rectangle with rounded corners. Each side of the rectangle nearly corresponds with a season. Each change of season roughly corresponds with the end of each curve. They are also arranged counter-clockwise. The longer sides are spring and fall. Winter solstice, xmas, and new years are in the bottom right corner. Most of the months have a color which corresponds to the color of its first letter, but a few don't follow that pattern.

My integer map also functions as my map of the years of the 20th century. Since it stops at 100, I haven't really visualized the last seven years. It zigzags back and forth pretty randomly, but its shape never changes. It is always either horizontal or sloped upward, never downward. Each integer from 0-9 has a specific color. The color of each two digit number is the same as the first digit, unless I zoom in. Then, in some cases, it changes to the color of the second digit. In other cases, it changes to the color of one of its factors, or a blend of the colors of each digit. Both digits in a two digit number are always the same color.

That's about the extent of this particular aspect of my madness. I don't see my "maps" as clearly now as I did as a kid, and I'm sure they have changed some over time. I still refer to them when counting forward or backward in days, months, or years. I usually don't think anything about it.

[Hdier]

I constantly hear music in my head, which is triggered by what I happen to be seeing at the time (or what I saw when the piece started). Does that count?

[phoenix]

I constantly hear music in my head, which is triggered by what I happen to be seeing at the time (or what I saw when the piece started). Does that count?

I have a constant musical soundtrack running as well. It is extremely rare for me to have no music, and almost every phrase a person utters can trigger a musical reference. My parents do this too, and while my father may be INTJ, my mother surely isn't, so I don't believe it's a type-related trait.

Also, I don't think it is a synaesthetic trait for me, as usually sound (verbal) triggers sound (musical), rather than visual (or other) stimulus triggering sound.

[Myrak]

I've got that constant musical soundtrack happening as well, it's been going on for ages now. That verbal trigger you described is also very common for me. I'll usually end up with 2 or 3 different songs repeating in my head throughout the day, but its completely subconscious when the song changes, and even though I'd have been hearing the past song for hours I have a very tough time remembering what the song it was once it's changed.

Funnily enough, the only way for me to get rid of said songs is to actually listen to them. The real trouble is when that doesn't cure it, and in fact aggravates it (see: the De-Loused in the Comatorium album by The Mars Volta. I'm torn between the fact its a great album, and the fact I get ravenously addicted to the songs when I listen to it >_<)

[Paul V]

Holy crap, I finished reading the Wikipedia article. I definetely have synaesthesia. Personification, mostly, though I've always associated colours to letters, numbers, days of the week, months, etc.

I find it really hard to believe that these seemingly normal parts of my personality are synaesthetic. And I've had them for as long as I can remember.

Oh, and I remember having some smelling synaesthetic experiences too! Man, this brings back memories...

[The Many]

Holy crap, I finished reading the Wikipedia article. I definetely have synaesthesia. Personification, mostly, though I've always associated colours to letters, numbers, days of the week, months, etc.

I find it really hard to believe that these seemingly normal parts of my personality are synaesthetic. And I've had them for as long as I can remember.

Oh, and I remember having some smelling synaesthetic experiences too! Man, this brings back memories...

Yes, I remember when I discovered this trait in myself too. I thought everyone heard music in colours until then, so it came as quite a surprise. Ironically enough the one who told me it was extraordinary was an INTJ (at least most likely) then-girlfriend of mine.

Ohh, and Myrak - De-Loused in the Comatorium is a fantastic album. Amputechture is probably my favourite of theirs though.

[Firelie]

I've got that constant musical soundtrack happening as well, it's been going on for ages now. That verbal trigger you described is also very common for me. I'll usually end up with 2 or 3 different songs repeating in my head throughout the day, but its completely subconscious when the song changes, and even though I'd have been hearing the past song for hours I have a very tough time remembering what the song it was once it's changed.

Funnily enough, the only way for me to get rid of said songs is to actually listen to them. The real trouble is when that doesn't cure it, and in fact aggravates it (see: the De-Loused in the Comatorium album by The Mars Volta. I'm torn between the fact its a great album, and the fact I get ravenously addicted to the songs when I listen to it >_<)

I have that problem a lot. Someone will say a word or a phrase and then a song containing that particular word/phrase suddenly starts going in my head, then I get weird looks if I actually start reciting the lyrics (and telling people that a word they said reminded me of a song doesn't usually alleviate the weird looks).

I don't think that would be synaesthesia, though, since it's not really between two senses...more like between your current hearing and past hearing that has been remembered.

[INTJgal]

I'm definitely not synaesthetic.

[Epicurus]

When I was younger I had some of it I think, and perhaps in my dreams now and then, now I don't know. Its very nice tough what I think I have experienced of it even if I can't remember or really tell if I had it or excactly how. For some I always relate standing before a city at night with no people outside, that feeling, to a smell, but I really don't know what to make of that. Same with busses- and sertain train-seats wich I got a weird feeling from smelling or maybe the other way around. Etc. For me it could have been just as much of my odd way of thinking and percepting not relating to synasthesia as well, because I have ''problems'' with that.

[oceanicon]

I don't kow if it is real synaesthesia, but for me every number, letter, weekday, month and date has a colour for me.

[chikwbrains]

I have taste-->colour syn. At least thats the strongest. I have other types, but mildly! Never thought to put them together with INTJ before though. Hmmmmm

[rocksteady]

I've had some extremely intense synaesthetic experiences using the drug Ketamine. Absolutely mind blowing.

[Edeag]

I mostly assign personalities to numbers- 1 is a wise old man, 2 is somewhat like the "vice-president." 1-10 all have definite personalities that have been the same since I was little.

[banzai]

I'm definitely not synaesthetic.

I would probably say the same for myself.

Y'all need to lay off the shrooms. :p

[Zilal]

I have colored letters. And I assumed everyone did, until I heard about synesthesia.

If you're curious about whether you have it... do you always have the same response to the same stimulus? (Like, is C always yellow, is a french horn always blue?) That's a hallmark of synesthesia.

[robin.]

Almost everyone I have talked to has said they have experienced this is some form. I honestly don't think it's anything out of the ordinary, more like just a really cool and unexplained way that our minds work.

For me, music is sometimes colored. Numbers always have colors, genders, and general demeanors. Letters and words are occasionally symbolized by something non-representative. (The word "apologize" is tied to a jar of maraschino cherries.)

[rocksteady]

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Hey guys, I found this cool 20 min talk about the brain from a neurologist, it mentions this..

[rwyatt365]

I'm definitely not synaesthetic.
Darn, neither am I. I feel cheated! :cry:

PS - is this like the Sixth Sense ("I see blue numbers")?

[quentin]

Numbers and letters all have genders to me. In general odd numbers are male and even numbers are female, with exceptions of 8 (male), 9 (female; perhaps because it has a curvy female shape) and 10 (male, because every number must be paired with another number of the opposite sex sitting next to it: 1 & 2, 3&4 are lovers. This creates sexual tensions between 5, 6, 7, 8 because there is only one female in that bunch, 6, so 5 and 7 fight over her affections. 8 longs for 9 but she is too deeply attached to 10, the alpha male of numbers.)

0 is a male and a loner and he likes it that way.

[Caramel]

I'm definitely not synaesthetic.

Me neither.

How boring we are.

[rocksteady]

0 is a male and a loner and he likes it that way.
Well it's no wonder I always use that digit to represent my number of girlfriends!

[DeepPurple]

Co-signing with all the others who say they've never experienced it.

[Firelie]

Numbers and letters all have genders to me. In general odd numbers are male and even numbers are female, with exceptions of 8 (male), 9 (female; perhaps because it has a curvy female shape) and 10 (male, because every number must be paired with another number of the opposite sex sitting next to it: 1 & 2, 3&4 are lovers. This creates sexual tensions between 5, 6, 7, 8 because there is only one female in that bunch, 6, so 5 and 7 fight over her affections. 8 longs for 9 but she is too deeply attached to 10, the alpha male of numbers.)

0 is a male and a loner and he likes it that way.

Dude, you need to lay off the soap operas...

[LJB]

"a" red, "b" blue, "c" yellow, "d" green... I always think of a color before I write the letter. Not so bad when typing though.

[aelan]

I have colors for numbers, days of the week, months, my classes, songs, emotions, etc....

I also picture random things in my head sometimes, for example, when I was a kid, I always pictured someone breaking thin sticks when I heard the word "practice." Those were the same sticks that I pictured when I heard that nursery rhyme "5, 6, pick up sticks.." And sometimes I just get this impression, almost an image with a feeling, and I can't describe it in words, but it's something I just feel. Sometimes I remember my dreams in images and feelings too, and can't translate them into words either, which can be frustrating.

[Antares]

I have Color Synesthesia... I'm wondering if anyone else here has it and the possible connections with INTJ.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

To me, 1 is orange, 2 is skyblue, 3 is green, 4 is red, five is royalblue etc. I have it with English alphabets as well.

is a neurologically-based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. In one common form of synesthesia, known as grapheme → color synesthesia, letters or numbers are perceived as inherently colored, while in ordinal linguistic personification, numbers, days of the week and months of the year evoke personalities. In spatial-sequence, or number form synesthesia, numbers, months of the year, and/or days of the week elicit precise locations in space (for example, 1980 may be "farther away" than 1990), or may have a three-dimensional view of a year as a map (clockwise or counterclockwise).

[Zilal]

I have it... I'm not aware of any studies that have been done connecting synesthesia with MBTI type, but I think there was another thread about this and a number of people responded saying they were also synesthetic.

[Xenolar]

I haven't been officially tested for synaesthesia, yet I am quite confident that I am affected by a mild form of it. A large degree of my synaesthesia revolves around numbers. I have specific colors in my mind of individual numbers (and letters, to a lesser degree). I also imagine numbers to be represented in specific, nonlinear, spatial locations. I similarly envision the progression of time (in the form of days, months, years, centuries, etc.) in a holistic spatial form.

Also, when I hear specific noises, look at specific objects/colors, taste specific foods, or am touched in a certain way, I respond internally in odd ways (for instance, I experience a warm, tingling/burning sensation when I eat certain crackers).

[Indigo]

I think I may be somewhat synesthetic.

One thing I don't like about calanders is that they are usually the wrong color or have the wrong images for the month! I 'see' spoken words. They are usually being spelled out in front of me. This is very distracting in conversation, so I try to ignore it when it happens. I like to have certain colors around me when I'm doing various activities. Purples and blues for creativity. Red for studying. But it changes from time to time. Colors evoke feelings for me. Music has a 3 dimensional quality for me as do maps. When I'm using a map to find my way I see myself moving in it. This really helps to not get lost!

I never thought about whether or not other people were like this. It's not something that I think about all that much, except when it concerns the color of my environment. I always thought that this was a result of events that have occured in my life and the related emotions. For example, certain songs evoke emotions. One song in particular comes to mind. At the time that it was popular I was going through a rough period in my life. When I hear it today, I feel those emotions again. I don't think that this instance is synesthesia, but some of the others might be. I just figured that the other occurances were like this one.

Hmmmm......

[emaleth]

I am synaesthetic though up to very recently when i was taking a psychology class i wasn't even aware of the fact cause for me sounds and colours are so deeply intertwined that it's impossible to detach one from the other. i have thought it normal for each and every person and i didn't realize sth was "off" with the way i experience the latter. for me the strongest point is sounds to colours, though at times and particular types of sounds can leave hmm...a taste in my mouth.

[Uytuun]

I think I might have it with colours pretty often...I will often have the sensation that a thing, or a situation, or a song, or a person, a form, a sound has a distinct colour.

[Antares]

I mostly assign personalities to numbers- 1 is a wise old man, 2 is somewhat like the "vice-president." 1-10 all have definite personalities that have been the same since I was little.

My. You definitely have it worst off than I do. I have quite mild a case for Synesthesia.

[Zilal]

I think of mine as being weak. All the letters have colors, the same colors they've had since I was a kid, but I don't see them when I read as I've heard some people do--only in my head--and they're simple colors... not "shiny blue with a purple border" as some others report.

The book "Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens" is about synesthesia.

[Andrey]

I have it. Colors of digits and letters kind of. It was very strong in childhood.

[faedra]

Apologies for digging up this old and buried thread, but it's getting scary, the number of similarities I'm seeing in this place. Sound -> color here, but sadly I have a feeling I'm growing out of it.

[Trailmixed]

I think I may experience gustatory synesthesia. Some words leave a tomatoey taste, like the word "word", for instance. Just little things like that, And I can also feel something in my hand when certian words are spoken. I enjoy it, but I really want the colors!

[jakattack]

I think that I may have a mild form of it, but it is different than wikipedia's definition. Every number does have a feeling, but it isn't like a physical feeling, I guess it borders on the personality thing. It is hard to explain with words, I don't usually think about it that often.
0 is a nice, beautiful number
1 is a weird number, but very solid
2 is not a weird as 1 and still solid
3 is kind of flaky
4 has a feeling that I can't explain
5 is also flaky, as odd numbers tend to be, but also kind of beautiful and always seems to be "half"

I am a telephone surveyor and so I am required to dial numbers all day, and these numbers and their combinations all have different feelings, and I can tell if I have dialed it before or not just by how it feels.

I used to be able to see spellings of words more clearly, lately I find that I can't do that as well, but I can see images of the word or number written if it was written in a weird font or handwriting other than my own. This used to help me out a lot on spelling tests in school, or remembering friends numbers or addresses if I had seen them previously written.

When I listen to music I am able to kind of "ride it", it feels like a rollercoaster going to the sounds. A lot of times colors go hand in hand with it. I won't lie, the less sober I am the more I experience this, but I have been able to do it forever, and it causes me to really like psychedelic music.

[Haphazard]

I have grapheme ---> color synesthesia

It's about the only reason I can spell.

When I was learning Japanese, I started getting colors with all the hiragana symbols. I wonder what all the kanji would have looked like? It would have probably have been too much for me to handle and I would have short-circuited.

[SmartOne]

Words have a taste and texture, I love some words. One of my favourites is "SODA" it feels so nice just to think it and to actually say it is heaven. Does anyone else experience this?

[Kathleen]

I can physically feel music. Consequently, the only kind of music I can really enjoy is classical....some of which feels fucking phenomenal.... But mostly my synaesthesia is a total pain....literally! I cannot tolerate most music people listen to....there is a very small range of music which I can tolerate for short time durations, but the majority of music listened to by people is very very painful/uncomfortable.

[NephilimAzrael]

The main reactions I have are to smells, tastes and sounds(notably music).
Smell causes an image of my surroundings to formulate in my mind. Taste makes a picture of my body to become directly imposed on a mental strategy of possible movements within my environs and sound/music gives me a strategy to actions and contingent actions in order to achieve a goal.

Im very sensitive to peoples tone and any pressure put on my body too.
Wonderfully powerful tool , synaesthesia, and always useful. Thanks for making this thread, it's great to know I'm not a freak in this regard. :cheesy: